Bio of TDR

TDR is a working professional in entertainment and is obsessed with the game of hockey. More four years ago, this site emerged as a means (or an outlet) to tell some truth'isms about the game post-lockout, rather than the crud fed to us through knuckleheads like Jimmy Dolan and his lemmings universe. Today, there are a hundred Rangers sites and is thankful and grateful to all those that have come after him, but honorable thanks go to his fellow Dark-writers, Graying Mantis and J_Undisputed. And "Let's Go Rangers!"

Bio of Graying Mantis

Graying Mantis is in fact a graying legal practitioner by day (and sometimes, alas, by night). In the cobwebs of his memory, he recalls starting to follow the Blueshirts in 1970 and remembers watching pivotal playoff games against the Blackhawks on a snow-covered Hartford t.v. channel in their 1972 march to the Finals. Giacomin, Gilbert, Ratelle, and Hadfield seen skating on a small B&W TV screens always will be among his first Ranger memories. He is grateful beyond words for the opportunity to work with his colleagues here in their never ending battle to inform and entertain. Most of all, he appreciates the chance to engage with fellow hockey fans.

Bio of J_Undisputed

"J_Undisputed is an Information Tech Professional; a student, and on and off in his dreams, Mike Richter. He caught his first glimpse of Rangers Hockey when an overtime preempted his favorite pro wrestling broadcast on WWOR-9 one late saturday night when he was 5 and he's been hooked ever since. He's been watching the Rangers for 30 years despite family attempts to make him an Islander Fan (Rest easy...they're out of the will). What started as a minor annoyance has become a life long passion (and at times, a frustration...But he wouldn't trade it for anything). Lets Go Rangers!"

Bio of General Ganz

General Ganz is a cynical yet well-informed student of the human spirit. He's a professional of sorts, with a post-graduate education, some experience working in real companies, and some limited athletic ability. The total small package. He got picked on a fair bit as a kid, and he experienced his first human-non-relation kiss in his teens. He also grew up on the other side of the tracks, thereby helping to cultivate a healthy contempt for dreamers and optimists whose rosy upbringing gave them something to smile about, even when "life produced lemons." Like it or not, his only mission is to point out the potholes you're lucky enough to miss on your drive to work. To find the blemish on your daughter's carefully-stitched (and not-yet-paid-for) wedding dress. To take that little smidgen of hope that your favorite hockey teams fill you with, and pour orange paint on it. Oh, and he is a Blueshirts fan, and takes most of his fashion direction from Ron Duguay (whose name he dropped as a way to close the deal on that first kiss).

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Like the first 3 games of the season, the first 2 periods of last night's kick off of a NorthWest Road Trip seemed like deja vu. Haunted by foul filled memories, youthful exuberance ruled over discipline and we had to thank the hockey gods for our guy in goal.

Henrik's sharp reflexes were enough to keep us in the game until we were able to generate some offense. It was a good win after a so so game against one of the leagues better goaltenders. However it would be a disservice to let this one slide in favor of just celebrating the win. The first two periods of this game were played like the last 258+... under the Torts plan... and at this rate, its hard to understand how this is supposed to work for us or get us to a cup.

The major difference between the goals scored in the 3rd last night and that of the previous two was that according the blue print, everything in the third was done wrong.... and Thank god for that. The 3rd and fourth liners were producing goals run and gun style. D-men played as extra forwards and dished passes to shooters around the net. For once... the offense wasn't concerning itself playing the shell game around the boards, which has seeming been the bane of a ranger fans existence over the past couple of seasons. The horribly contrived game plan, where forwards go deep behind the net and and dmen pin themselves to the boards at the blue line in order to keep pucks in, leaves the middle of the ice wide open for opposing forward trolling the passing lanes for cross ice passes to pick off and start oddman rushes with. With the entire team racing back behind the play on turnovers, its almost inevitable that a penalty will be committed just to break even at the other end.

The energy level we display in trying to outwork our opponents is nice and reflects the young legs on the team. Its really a shame that for many of the forwards, being out of position is part of the plan. At any given time there is a clump of blue shirts concentrated on the ambush effort and when we manage to strip an opponent of the ice, it's a success. When the opponent manages to get a pass out to someone on the open side, we're slowly relying more and more on our superstar goalie to bail us out. In the mad scramble to to dig a puck out and work it around the boards to an open man, the art of the pass, big shot from the blueline, the one timer and the dangle is lost and the training wheels are back on.

Perhaps Torts feels like he is using a game plan that suits the skill level of this team. These young players won't get any better dishing rubber around the boards and perfecting dumps into the corners to be chased. While we are not a team with size, our players have shown to be skillful enough to play a more open game. Mike Rupp was acquired to put hands on people when stuff got rough. He still managed to score a goal last night doing the most basic of practices. Follow the play, advanced the puck, and wait for a shot at a rebound. Brandon Prust the same. It seems on the 3rd and 4th line.. despite only getting 5 minutes a night, these guys are not high enough on the totem pole to have the preaching from Torts, erode their most basic of hockey instincts and overwrite them like it seeming does on the the top two lines. As Torts tries to recreate the Tampa bay cup team and justify his ego, most of our players are being neutered by the inhibiting bland offense. In case, you haven't notice yet, this is really sticking in my craw.

I feel like this is a pivotal point to a player like Derek Stepan, who has seemed to really picked up a chip on his shoulder over the summer and is playing with more confidence. There are many a player on this team that may finally be coming into their own and I can't help but feel we're missing out on it thanks to the mundane offensive plan. I also resent the notion that injuries (like that of Staal) already have this team on unstable legs. This team cannot revolve around 1 player or 1 line or even just 3 lines. Playing favorites and on a whim switcharoos on the lines are things you do when tweaking something that already works. Till then, a solid offensive game plan and mastering of the fundamentals will provide more versatility in the line up. Stop dumbing down your offense to the most common denominator and elevate the skills of the players where they will have another gear when you need it. We've seen what your non marquee players can do in a period like the 3rd. There is no reason they and the rest of the team cannot practice and use these skills all the time.

2 comments:

Very interesting viewpoint. It also goes a long way to explain our lack of sustainable offense. I have never been a big fan of our coach and feel, particularly in light to the Avery situation, Torts would be better suited (no pun intended) to be more a minor league teaching coach. Someone who does not allow individual growth and development and maturity unless it comes from him and not the player. He may prove me wrong and we both will be willing to eat all the crow dished on our collective plate if the TEAM raises up to the level of their talent and wins the cup under, or in spite of his tutorage.

Anonymous, That's just it. I mean if this was going to prove fruitful, I think it would happened or at least had the ball rolling at this point. I mean, we may both a little far removed from team than he in perspective. But to witness this in stages. He comes in with grudge against Avery, Averys now buried in the minors. He heaps praise on Drury, while the rest of us don't see it. Drury is bought out and forced into retirement. He heaps praise on Dubinsky. Cally gets the C, Dubinsky looks like hes sandbagging now that he got his contract. It seems like hes getting more or less what he wants and it doesn't seem to be panning out. But its the teams discipline level that's the problem? Seems to me the team doesn't get disciplined. There are just players that fall on and off his $h*t list..... He says we .. He claims the team has no excuses.. but the TOI totals only change for some players. The vancouver game was interesting in that we were essentially playing a squad of players we discarded at one time. They were pretty damn effective against use for 2 periods. Higgins, Samuellson, Maholtra... Some better before us.. some after... but definitely more useful in other systems. Will we some day be seeing our kids in a different light because we never saw them play hockey as themselves under this system?

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